The Chosen One (Earth 7)

LXXXVII) Bad News.

Ethan just watched the road as they passed by. He was never really one for conversation, a trait that made a lot of people think of him as unapproachable.

It wasn't too surprising to him, he never really had friends. Most people just talked to him out of pity, and he still felt like Percy was doing the same, though he was warming up to him.

"The ride's normally not this long. Milly just can't afford to kill both of us with her horrid driving."

"My driving is excellent." Milly said, offended.

"I don't mind," he said. "I love the road."

Looking at the passing buildings reminded him of his past.

He had always looked at Hermes as his father, even if he already had one. Though he'd never really seen Hermes in person, he felt closer to him than he ever had with his own biological dad.

He had always prioritised being a lawyer over everything. He had also always prioritised being right. He almost never lost his cases, and Ethan wasn't really sure if everything he had done to win was legal or not.

He had always found it so ironic that Nemesis, the goddess of revenge falls for someone like his father. His father never understood justice, and always cared about his results rather than how it affected others.

He was a selfish conniving asshole that only cared for Ethan's older sister.

He was never close to her. She had graduated out of the house before Ethan had learnt how to talk, so they didn't have a relationship.

Not that he cared. He didn't know what to expect from daddy's little girl who got whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.

He wasn't surprised when his father called him and told him that she had passed away.

It's called karma.

Sure, it sounded heartless, but when you've been told since you were a kid, that you were a mistake, a burden, the result of all the sinning your father had done in his life, your emotions start to close off.

He didn't shed a single tear during her funeral.

And things only got worse from that point. Since he had never had a good father figure, Ethan always wondered about his mother, and why she would leave him in that nightmare.

"She wanted to be a doctor." He had told him one day. "She had loved you so much, Ethan."

"My mom?" Ethan – only 7 by then – had asked.

"No," Mr. Nakamura had said, "Your sister. Ethan, help her fulfill her dreams. Become a doctor."

"I don't like hospitals."

"I don't care what you-" he stopped his anger from bubbling too high, composing himself, "Do this for Sarah."

Even as a corpse, his father still loved her more.

Ethan understood there and then that he would never change. He would never love him.

"I don't want to be a doctor."

"Why can't you do something for me?" His 'Father' had asked, "All these years I've taken care of you when I could've put you up for adoption-"

"Then why didn't you?!" He had yelled, "Why let me suffer in this stupid house all these years when you had another option?!"

"You ungrateful bastard!" He had gotten to his feet, slapping Ethan across the face. "This is why I loved your sister more. She would always listen."